Space 1999 Eagle Transporter Build Club (PIC HEAVY!)

[Atlanthia]

I have started experimenting with different methods of suspension for the eagle legs. So far, te best method I have found is to use the spring mechanism found in a propelling pencil. These springs take about 3lbs of pressure to compress them so they are ideal for this job.

These pics show a mock-up that I have built, just to ensure that the thing works. It is far from pretty but it serves the purpose. I can refine it later when I make the final four. I just have to attach the jointed hinge to the upright to test that it all works together.

My eagle shouldn't weigh much more than 6, possibly 7lbs when complete, so these springs should be ample to support it.

These last two images show the amount of compression the suspension will allow

 

[Ray22]

That looks great Darrren! I'm still waiting for my engine parts a friend 3-d printed for me so I can mold them and finish up my bird.

 

[Grendel67]

Hi there Atlanthia.

A friend of mine, Drew Gaska at BLAM! Ventures, has the rights to the Space 1999 series for stories and graphic novelisation. He's written/produced a number of comics (the "Aftershock" and "Awe" series), and probably has loads of reference pictures that his artists will have used. If you contact him at BLAM! I'm sure he'll be pleased to help if he can, and keen to see your project.

 

[jedimaster]

I managed to get a pic from The Full Circle this shows the floor levels a little more clearly. Sorry if the picture is too big..

Darren is that you lying down on the job? Get a hair cut man for gods sake!:behave

 

[greylocke]

Darren will you be able to cut down the pen enough so it doesn't affect the spring tension?

 

[Atlanthia]

Darren will you be able to cut down the pen enough so it doesn't affect the spring tension?

I already have, grey!.... The mechanism is more than strong enough...

 

[LMFAOSchwarz]

Darren is that you lying down on the job? Get a hair cut man for gods sake!:behave

I'd be satisfied if he'd just put on some pants! :wacko :lol

 

[Atlanthia]

If that's the state he wakes up in, it must have been one hell of a night out!

 

[Atlanthia]

I have spent the last couple of days making and applying greeblies to the outside of the forward walkway. I have had to kind of use the few images that are available to me, and make the rest up...I am not too bothered because once the cross pieces are installed into the cages, and the shoulder pods are in place, the greeblies will be all but unseen.
Here is the port side:

And here is the Starboard side:

I am not sure yet what to do under the shelves but I am, at least reasonably happy with the two top halves. I am hoping they will look better once I have painted them white.

 

[LMFAOSchwarz]

No worries there...primer fixes everything!
Looking good, and I like your landing mechanisms thus far, too! It's cool how they will have working suspension, but won't that go unnoticed to observers? Mine will most likely not work, for that very reason.

 

[Atlanthia]

It's the old addage, Mate...I'll know it's there :lol

 

[MrHateAol]

Mind... officially... blown! I just can't get over how impressive this thread is. I only wish I could add some material and constructive commentary to it... other than please odn't ever show THAT pic of the caveman again... just about any other angle but that...

 

[Atlanthia]

Mind... officially... blown! I just can't get over how impressive this thread is. I only wish I could add some material and constructive commentary to it... other than please odn't ever show THAT pic of the caveman again... just about any other angle but that...

:lol

Thanks, Mate! And I promise not to post it again! From ANY angle...

 

[MrHateAol]

Under Studio-Scale modeling I was just on another 44" eagle thread and came into a debate on whether or not 3D printing was an acceptable means to produce the engine bells. The author of the thread was pleased with his 3D printed parts which used aluminum powder for coloring, but another reader took exception, claiming that they MUST be machine-tooled only.

I know that for this build you are not strictly adhering to the original models since it's clear that, in construction techniques and planning, your model differs from the original constructions. I pointed out that while the filming beauty Eagle used the brass tubing to actually conduct the freon dust blasts, none of the Eagle builds I have seen here have followed through with that (sincere apologies if I missed one or two that DO deal with that..).

Additionally, your model is more concerned with replicating as close as possible the interiors, which existed solely as live-action sets and may or may not have actually conformed perfectly to the model dimensions (or vice-versa, for that matter...). I always felt that the live action interiors, particularly the cargo pod... never properly scaled to the models.

My ultimate point to the reader was that this opened up the conundrum of the function of the work. I used the Mona Lisa as a basis:

to wit - If a person paints a replica of the original Mona Lisa and manages to match in brush-stroke and colorization and technique, etc... a 99.9% exact likeness, does that painting retain the value of the original? It would stand to reason that it is NOT a photocopy, so no actual short-cut would have been made in it's construction, and in fact the need to perfectly render it from the original probably increased the creation timeline (I'm pretty sure you'll attest to that one...). And yet the second it is revealed as a copy, it's value plummets.

This begs the question that is the original superior to the copy in that it is the original, or is the copy inferior to the original regardless of effort, materials and final results, even if it matches the original so perfectly?

I find this to be an interesting question.. Real or Memorex?

 

[LMFAOSchwarz]

Very well stated, MrHateAol!
I'm mainly interested in making a good copy of a beloved icon of my childhood. At the time of he series, I knew not how big these models were, or what they were made from. I just knew they looked cool, and really looked like a plausible extrapolation of then-modern day technology.

Let us say that the original engine bells were made of silver painted Dixie cups. If I don't then use Dixie cups on mine, am I wrong to do so?

 

[Atlanthia]

I think it is only now becoming clear to me, just how much that cave man picture has actually affected you both....:lol

I have had really nasty emails about this build. Not from anyone on this site. But there is another site where I actually had to remove my email address.

Some people are such purists that they quite literally explode with genuine anger and can culture that all the way up to genuine hatred, because someone didn't follow the doctrine, as lay-ed down in the holy prints of blue....To them, wrong is right if that's how it was in the show. They feel threatened.... Few people like to see something built for pennies when it cost them thousands of pounds to assemble. Many of these people fear that the standards will start to slip now that the 'riff raff' Have been let in, making things on the cheap.

Other people sit back and think more positively. They see the advantages of substituting materials, innovating the design, subtly altering certain elements. They don't feel threatened by someone's innovation, they don't believe that ANY model should necessarily cost thousands of pounds if there is a cheaper way to make it well.

Certain iconic items have this effect on people and them's the stakes you take when you take 'em on!

 

[MrHateAol]

I take your point. Similar to, though better eloquated than mine. I perhaps got a little overly annoyed by the dogmatic approach of the other reader and regret, as you said over on that page, contributing to hijacking the thread.

I'm really enjoying this whole RPF site and letting the astounding work here fire some long-neglected neurons. Not just on Eagle pages, but a number of areas here. It seems, however, there may be a finer line between defending and offending... I'll have to modify my approach a little bit more.

 

[Atlanthia]

:lol you'll be fine!

I'm glad that you are enjoying the various builds and your support is always welcome on any thread, I am sure!

 

[LMFAOSchwarz]

Wow..nasty e-mails over something like this?!
That's certainly justified...
That's what we get for fashioning engine bells from plastic wine glasses and the like...:behave :lol

I was going to make my bells out of aluminum, until my lathe deal fell through...so I improvised. I'd like to think the Original Builders might've done the same thing in the same circumstances, so I sleep very well at night!

 

[Atlanthia]

Me, too!

Some people seem to look for things to get angry about, but in this case, it's pure elitism and snobbery....the sort of people that never offer help or advice when it is asked for, but are always quick to criticise behind the scenes...